


Father's Day

by Banne



Category: Team Fortress 2
Genre: BLU Scout - Freeform, Gen, Past Spy/Scout's Mother, RED Spy - Freeform, Spy trying to dad, emphasis on trying
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-21
Updated: 2018-06-02
Packaged: 2019-05-09 14:34:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,001
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14717945
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Banne/pseuds/Banne
Summary: The RED Spy finds an injured BLU Scout and decides to try and be a decent father for once. His actions have consequences he did not foresee, leading to conversations he would rather not have.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This for Wireskull on tumblr. They're a fantastic artist you should check them out!
> 
> I may or may not be a bit tired posting this if there's any mistakes let me know and I'll fix them as soon as I can.

It was only about half way through the match when the RED Spy came across the BLU Scout. The boy was bleeding badly. It seemed as though he had been too close to some kind of RED explosion. Most likely Soldier’s rockets or Demo’s bombs. The Scout looked terrible. He was hardly conscience and hardly lucid. It was obvious that every breath pained him. He didn't even seem to notice the enemy standing right in front of him. The Spy knew the smartest thing would be to leave the Scout to bleed out. It would keep him off the field longer; prevent him from harassing RED then speeding away. All he had to do was walk away. 

But…

It was also Scout's birthday. The Spy made it his business to know everything about everyone on both teams. He knew their birthdays, blood types, past relationships. Everything.

Well, except for the BLU Spy. He could begrudgingly admit his counterpart was good at his job. 

Despite his best efforts, despite telling himself that it didn’t matter, the Spy could not ignore the BLU Scout. His mother was too important. She was one of the few women Spy could say he had every been truly interested in. She was beautiful, and strong, and could even tell when he was lying. Sometimes, when he has time alone, he wonders what his life could have been like had he settled down and married. Had he not been a backstabbing spy. 

Had he stayed with her and raised their son together. 

But he had not. He had left her just as he had left everything else from his past behind. She does not matter anymore. The Scout is just BLU filth, like the rest of the team. Even as he attempted to lie to himself, Spy was unable to stop watching Scout. 

His son. Dying on the battlefield, on his birthday. 

It was fine. The Scout would respawn, the same as everyone else. It was unpleasant, yes, but he would come back. He would be dead for less than a minute before he would be forced to experience the gut-wrenching sensation of having his insides recreated and rearranged. The disorientation of being alive then dead then alive again. The nausea that every mercenary staunchly ignored in favour of returning to the endless war. 

Even as he reasoned with himself, Spy felt himself moving towards the Scout. Perhaps, in an act of mercy, he would kill the Scout himself. Shorted his suffering, if only by a little bit. Instead, Spy felt as if he was watching someone else control his body as he opened his disguise kit and put on a mask. The BLU Spy. The easiest to act as, given how similar they were. Before he could stop and consider his actions, Spy shouted, “Medic!”

Then he waited with Scout. He tried to justify his actions as the sole present he had ever given to his child. He would wait until the Medic came then simply cloak and leave. No one would ever have to know what he did. How he had betrayed his own team, in a small way.

After a small eternity, the BLU Medic came, Pyro in tow. The arsonist made Spy even more nervous about his sudden endeavour into kindness. For whatever reason, Pyro seemed to be the best at figuring out where the Spy was hiding. He realized not for the first time how stupid he was being for attempting to help the opposite team. Scout would have respawned anyway. 

“Spy! You called for me?” said the Medic, looking him over trying to see his injury. Wordlessly, Spy nodded to the unconscious Scout. 

“Oh! I did not notice him! I’m surprised he has not died on his own, perhaps I should look into what makes him so resilient to explosives…” Medic trailed off, thinking about the different experiments he could run. He continued muttering to himself switching rapidly between English and German as he turned the beam of the Medi Gun towards Scout. 

Rather than immediately running off as he had intended, Spy stayed and watched as Scouts wounds headed and he began to regain conscientiousness. In his peripheral vision Spy could still see the Pyro. Were they watching him or looking somewhere else? The gas mask made it impossible to know for sure. They gave a small wave to the Spy. He returned the gesture awkwardly, unsure of what else to do. 

Seemingly in the moment Spy had looked away to focus on Pyro, Scout had sat up. He was chattering to the Medic, trying to both thank the doctor while also denying he needed help in the first place. Spy refocused on the conversation in time to hear Medic say, “You have the Spy to thank. He is the one who alerted me to your position.”

Scout’s made eye contact with Spy for the first time. “Yeah? And what did I do that Mr. Frenchy himself would bother helping me? You want something now?”

Spy did not get the chance to answer, although he was not sure how he would have anyway. He watched in horror as his mirror image ran into the area. The real BLU Spy. 

The RED Spy immediately cloaked himself. He dared not try and bluff his way out of a situation featuring four BLUs, one of them being the person he was disguised as. His only hope was running. 

Unfortunately for Spy, Pyro’s sense for his location did not fail them. They flipped on their flamethrower and caught Spy in the flames. He yelled in pain. He knew his cloak dropped even though he could not open his eyes to confirm. The RED Spy burned to death. 

He slowly became conscious of his own discomfort. His insides were twisted all wrong. Everything felt unnatural. 

And then he was back. 

Spy opened his eyes and fought back the need to vomit. He wasn’t sure if his stomach was only turning because of respawn or if it had more to do with Scout. It was probably Scout. 

Resolving to ignore the situation as best as he could Spy returned to the battlefield. He could simply ignore the BLU Scout, Medic, Pyro, and Spy. About half the opposing team. It shouldn’t be too difficult. 

The battle progressed without any other incidents. Spy knew his kill count suffered that day but couldn’t bring himself to care.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry this is pretty late! I had some major health problems with my lungs come up! 
> 
> Remember how in the first chapter I said this was part of an art trade? Well go check out the awesome comic based on it! https://wireskull.tumblr.com/post/174446682322/my-halfof-an-artfic-trade-with-banne-writes-for
> 
> Comments and kudos are my lifeblood (hint hint)

Scout didn’t know what to make of today. The enemy Spy had returned to the battle after he had respawned, but whether he had been avoiding Scout or just being a Spy it was hard to say. 

He had been too shocked in the moment to do anything but thinking back on how he had watched Spy burn alive after saving his life, Scout felt sick. Why? Why the hell would a Spy of all people save him? It’s not even like death was permanent in their endless war! 

But still, the RED Spy had saved him from an unpleasant respawn. And been repaid with the Pyro’s flames. 

Scout had avoided talking about the whole incident with the BLU Medic when he had tried to start a conversation. He was fairly sure Medic would somehow try to twist the situation until he got a new patient (victim) for surgery (experiments). The BLU Spy hadn’t said anything about the situation and if Pyro had tried, Scout couldn’t make out what they said. He just ran off to go deal with his feelings in the old-fashioned way: taking his baseball bat to the heads on unsuspecting REDs. 

After though, when he no longer had a fight to try and distract himself with, Scout was left with the one thing he didn’t want to do. Analyze his feelings. After a quick shower to wash the remaining dirt and blood off of himself Scout flopped face first on his bed. His first reaction was to be angry. The Spy was clearly trying to get something out of him. What, Scout had no idea, but who knows what goes on in that bastard’s head. French things, probably. Those kinds of things can’t be trusted. 

Then there was the confusion. What if Spy hadn’t wanted anything? What if he just… decided to be nice? It didn’t make any sense. He automatically distrusted the RED Spy. Hell, he didn’t fully trust the BLU Spy. There was something he didn’t know going on here. 

A knock on his door distracted Scout from his thoughts. “The fuck do you want?” 

The door opened slightly, showing the Engineer’s face on the other side. “Hey Scout? Your Ma’s on the phone. Thought you’d like to talk to her.”

Scout sat up and sprang off his bed. He pushed past the door and Engineer, who shouted after him, “Hey String-Bean? Happy birthday! And you’re welcome!”

Scout had gone too far to hear the end of the Engineer’s words. For all the other mercs teased him, his mother was too important to him to care. She didn’t like his work, or at least, the small parts of it he told her about, but it paid too well to give it up but she still might have some thoughts on what he should do about the whole Spy situation. Plus, she would tell him about what his brothers were up to. That was always fun to listen to.  
Racing through the halls, he made it to the main living space in the BLU base. The phone sat innocuously off its hook. Luckily, no one else was there. Jeremy grabbed for the phone and softly said, “Hey Ma” as he sank onto the couch. 

Instead of hearing his mother respond like he’d expected Jeremy was greeted with a chorus of voiced singing “Happy Birthday.” He started laughing. Of course his whole family would want to be there for their littlest brother and son. For the first time since the incident, he forgot about the Spy. 

Jeremy chatted happily with his brothers for a while. They all mocked each other and brought up embarrassing stories from their childhoods. He only yelled at them a little when he finally found out who had lost his favourite hat years ago. Eventually, their mother shushed them and asked to speak to Jeremy alone. Another five minutes passed as the brothers all said goodbye to each other, then forgot they were supposed to actually be leaving at that point.

When she finally got to the phone, she quietly said, “Happy birthday Jeremy.” 

He could hear the smile in her voice. “Thanks, Ma.” 

“How’s my baby boy doing? Getting along with the other kids?” she teased.

“Ma! We’re fighting over serious things! It’s all very… adult-y! Yeah! And I’m the best of them all! One of my teammates said that they’d all be goners without me!”

She laughed, “Jeremy! I’m sure that’s all very true.” He didn’t know if he believed her or not. “But you’ll always be my little boy! I just don’t ever want to see you getting hurt.”

“No Ma! It’s okay! I’m fine! Today…” Jeremy cut himself off. The events of the day came crashing back on him. He was okay because an enemy helped him. 

“Jeremy?”

“I… I don’t know what to do. Today something really weird happened. There’s this…guy on the other side. He’s usually the most manipulative moron there is. But then today he helped me out. I don’t know why!” He cut himself off, feeling the frustration from before returning. 

His mother sighed. “That is a strange problem. You said you don’t know why he helped you?”

“No! He just up and saved my life for no reason!”

“There’s a reason for everything. Maybe he has regrets of some kind, or maybe he thinks fighting is pointless and wanted to help stop it.”

Scout laughed bitterly. “You don’t know this guy, Ma. He’s some backstabbing son of a bitch who would probably sell out his own children if it got him something he wants.”

She paused for a little. “Now I don’t know this man, but I do try to see the best in people. You should be careful, yes, but you never know,” her tone lifted, “Maybe he knew it’s your birthday?”

“Right. Seeing the best in people. Like the assholes who walked out on us.” Even as he said it, Jeremy knew he was going too far. 

Her light, teasing tone disappeared. “Yes. Like them. While you may not approve of my previous dating choices, they’re all special to me. Especially your father. He may have left, but I loved him while he was there.” She cut herself off, clearly trying not to cry.

Jeremy sat up straight. “No! Ma, I didn’t mean-”

“Of course you didn’t,” she cut him off bitterly, then sighed, “I know it’s hard. I know you we haven’t had the easiest of lives together, and of course I wish he had stayed. I honestly do believe he wanted to. He only met you once, you know. But he loved you, just like I do.”

Jeremy sank back into the couch. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have brought that up. It wasn’t right of me.”

“Thank you. I’m sorry too. I know your father – and your brothers’ fathers – is a hard topic for you. We shouldn’t be talking about this kind of thing on a day to celebrate you. If you were here, I would have made you your favourite dinner, and a cake big enough for all of us to share.”

“You trying to make me miss you more?” he asked as he blinked back tears. 

“Always! I’m down for underhanded tricks if it gets my boy home sooner!”

He laughed, “Well Ma, keep that up and it just might work!”

A crash echoed over the phone and Jeremy heard his mother’s muffled voice shouting, “Whoever did that better clean it the hell up!” She returned to the phone. “I think I should go. Can’t let you boys go unsupervised for five minutes, I swear.”

“Nah, course not. You taught us not to take any shit, and that includes from each other.”

“Damn right I did!” They laughed together for a few moments before she continued, “I know that man who saved you is your enemy, but he did something good. If you get the chance to talk to him safely, I think you should. But please, don’t put yourself in danger.”

“I’ll try not to, Ma.” 

“Right then! Time to go yell at the other trouble-makers!” She paused, then said, “I love you Jeremy.”

He smiled softly to himself. “I love you too.”

Not needing anymore words, he hung up. 

On the way back to his room, Scout made up his mind. If he could find a safe way to talk to the RED Spy, he would take it. For now though, he would go on a run to try and clear his head.


	3. Chapter 3

_The BLU Scout often goes for a run at night. If I stay inside, I can avoid him._

_The BLU Scout often goes for a run at night. If I go outside, I can see him._

These thoughts battled inside the RED Spy’s head. He could not decide whether or not he actually wanted a chance to explain his actions. On one hand, if he did he could get the near inevitable confrontation over with and the war could go on as usual. On the other, Spy was a literal professional at avoiding things. 

Even he could recognize that it was how he had gotten himself into this whole mess in the first place. 

It was because Spy was pondering his predicament that he failed to notice something on the ground in front of him. His foot landed on top of slick packaging and he lost his balance, tumbling ungracefully to the ground. Cursing himself and whoever had left whatever he had tripped on out, the Spy checked to ensure no one had seen his temporary inelegance. 

Thankfully for his ego, he was alone. 

As he stood back up, Spy looked at what he had tripped on: a brand-new pack of baseball cards. The RED Scout must have dropped them without noticing. His loss. There was no way Spy would return something he had been directly inconvenienced by. 

Spy walked towards the nearest trash can with the intention of throwing away the offending cards. But as his hand hovered over the bin preparing to drop the cards, he paused. The RED and BLU Scouts have similar interests in baseball. It follows that if this was purchased by the RED Scout, the BLU Scout would also like it.

As he stared at the packaging in his hand, the RED Spy made up his mind. 

Spy slipped the cards into his pocket and immediately started heading out of the base, cloaked so that no one would question his intentions. He felt as though if he did not leave at that very moment, he would talk himself out of going. 

Still cloaked, Spy made his way towards where the BLU Scout was often seen running at night. Not every night. There was a chance he wouldn’t show up and Spy would be spared the conversation. He wasn’t sure how long he stood still, silently watching, before he saw Scout.

Before he saw Jeremy. 

Gathering his courage, he walked onto the dirt path Scout was running on and decloaked. 

Scout skidded to a halt. “What the fuck!” He had left most of his weapons back at the BLU base since the only other person he usually saw on his runs was the RED Scout, if they both felt like racing. He curled his hands into fists and got into a defensive position. Then again, if a Spy felt like fighting, he wouldn’t decloak. “The hell do you want? Fight’s over for the day, run back to your base, moron!”

Spy raised his hands, showing that he wasn’t holding one of his signature knives. “It is fine, I only wish to talk tonight.”

Scout was still suspicious. He didn’t respond, only glaring at the Spy. Although, this was the man who spared him a long and painful death earlier. And his Ma’s words were still ringing in his ears. 

“I understand why you would be anxious of my motivations. I can only offer you my word that I am not here to harm you tonight. I simply want to speak about my actions earlier today.”

“Alright then Frenchy. Start talking.”

Spy hesitated. The confidence he had felt when he first saw the pack of trading cards was beginning to wane. “I… do not like seeing people… you… in extended amounts of pain,” he trailed off, not sure how to continue.

“Yeah? Then why didn’t you just stick one of your knives into me and end it that way?”

This time, he knew the answer. “Because respawn is unpleasant, to say the least of it. But you should not be prevented from healing or respawn simply so my team has a slight advantage.”

Scout was clearly thrown off balance by Spy’s quick response. “I’m still your enemy. And if your anything at all like our Spy you shouldn’t hesitate to just kill me if you really felt that bad about it. Not that I’m sure you felt bad about it at all and don’t have some kind of twisted plan to get something from me.”

_“Au contraire, mon fils,”_ Spy began in French with a slight smile, knowing Scout wouldn’t understand anyway. “I do not want anything from you. In fact, once we leave here I am fully prepared to pretend none of this ever happened.” Spy was starting to regret this conversation. He couldn’t fully explain his reasons behind helping the enemy without sharing information he would rather keep secret. “There is someone who I used to know – who used to be very important to me – who would have been very upset if I had let you suffer.”

Scout took his hat off and ran his fingers through his hair. He didn’t know that before Spy had started wearing the balaclava for work, Spy had often done the same in frustration. “Look. I’m still here because someone currently important to me told me to give you a chance. So explain now or I’m leaving.”

“She always did say to see the best in people,” said Spy with a sad expression, looking at the ground.

“Wait. How the fuck do you know who said that to me?”

Spy froze. He had failed to stay silent on a secret. He had failed at one of the most basic elements of being a Spy. Should he lie and say he had no idea what Scout was talking about? No. The boy wasn’t the most academically inclined, but he was not so stupid to believe a lie that large. But he couldn’t bring himself to tell the whole truth either. He would have to go with a partial truth. “I once met a woman who left quite an impact on me with her words. I am unsure of who said that to you, but many years ago that woman encouraged me when I needed it. Being a Spy is not the easiest career, especially during the war.”

Scout was uneasy. It could easily be a coincidence. Yet something told him Spy wasn’t being fully honest. “Where did you meet her?”

“New York.” The truth. She had been visiting her family there. He didn’t need to mention that he followed her back to Boston afterwards. 

“Right then. Guess we’re talking about different people then.” Scout relaxed a little. He couldn’t remember his mother ever mentioning New York so it probably wasn’t her. 

“Most likely not.” The Scout had bought Spy’s answer. “Well then, since we have that out of the way, I’d best be going now.” 

“Wait! You didn’t explain jack shit! So you met some broad way back when, that doesn’t explain why the sudden change of heart today.”

Spy felt drained. He hadn’t been that honest in a very long time. Any more and he wasn’t sure what would happen. Either he would stop responding or he would say everything. At this point, both options felt equally damning. “If it puts you at ease, I will give you these and we can call it a bribe.” Spy tossed the baseball cards to Scout, who caught them easily.

He looked carefully at the packaging and widened his eyes. “Shit! Do you even know how rare this pack is? I’ve been trying forever to get it! Where did you get it! And how bad do you want me to stay quiet if you managed to get this today? It's only been a few hours.”

Once again, Spy avoided the whole truth. “I retrieved them from an acquaintance who was treating them poorly.” It was probably better if Scout didn’t know he’d tripped on them then stolen them from the RED Scout. “They seem like they would be better off in your hands.”

“Okay then. Thank you? I guess? You're lucky that these cards are sweet enough that I'm willing to let you go and not pummel you on principal of being a RED." 

Spy turned away. Scout didn’t miss the implications of a Spy of all people turning his back to a member of the opposing team. 

As his hand inched towards his watch, Spy paused. He smirked as he looked over his shoulder. “Oh, and by the way. Happy birthday Jeremy.” Then he cloaked before Scout had the opportunity to properly respond and began jogging to his base. 

“Wait! How’d you know that? My birthday or my name!” But Spy was gone, and without a weapon there was no hope in finding him.

Spy may have missed the majority of his son’s birthdays, but maybe this one present would make up for it. And perhaps one day, he would introduce himself properly. Hopefully, it would be the same day he sees her again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's it! 
> 
> For now at least. I have a bit of an idea to continue this with a short chapter for actual Father's Day, and if people are interested enough I might write it. So comment if you'd like to see that I guess
> 
> For now, thank you so much for reading!
> 
> I have no idea about anything to do with baseball cards. My knowledge is entirely based on assuming they work similar to pokemon cards


End file.
